


Celsius 223

by MichaelTheWildBunny (MichaelKyan)



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-08
Updated: 2013-03-08
Packaged: 2017-12-04 16:30:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/712756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MichaelKyan/pseuds/MichaelTheWildBunny
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fahrenheit 451 parody of a parody. After a new law making gaming and computers illegal, how will Gavin Free and the rest of the AH crew make it in this new world?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Celsius 223

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Celsius 223](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/18311) by Figgy. 



> After a month of work, I have completed this parody! I adore the author of the original and the story as well, and I wanted to make an AH version. It's sad have fun

Celsius 223: the temperature at which gaming consoles, computers and gaming disks begin to melt.

~~

Gavin Free meandered down the road to his station on an early Texas morning. The sun was barely rising but the humidity was already beginning to muggy up the air. A couple of clouds hid the sunrise, much to Gavin’s demise. The mixed purples in the early morning made his day just a little better. His heavy boots made his feet drag, and his coat was hurting his arms from its weight.

He walked inside the station and prepared for the long day of work. At his locker, he put on his goggles and coat, since he would need to be safe. He saw his colleagues already walking to their destination, and hurried to catch up with them. He almost tripped, though, earning a scolding from his boss.

“Free! We need you today, stop fucking up all the time!”

Gavin apologized to his once friend and caught up to his area. Crates of old disks and consoles were behind the pit of flames. Workers had already started their shifts as Gavin grabbed a shovel. He watched as the eight employees just made their motions, not trying to think about what they were doing.

He dug the spade into the broken plastics of his crate and tossed them into the fire. They collapsed in the flame and the colors began to melt. The characters and the plotlines erased as their home, the hard disks, were destroyed. Gavin’s heart began to ache as he gazed inside the orangey blazes. He pulled out an oversized fan and let the blazes grow.

“Don’t look too long,” his co-worker warned, “You wouldn’t want him on you again.”

“Okay, Narvaez,” Gavin mumbled, retrieving his shovel. The bigger consoles, the Xboxes, the PlayStations, were the ones he just threw in by hand. Sometimes he preferred the shovel, but it was simpler not to worry about that.

It was simpler to forget and just remember the past.

~

Gavin and his associates decided for their lunch break to go over to an old café across the road. There were four of them in total; they took up half of their area of eight at work. They were all friends, plus a fifth, before what they considered to be the apocalypse. The fifth had changed, and wouldn’t stay with them anymore. He had just refocused and wanted to center himself on survival in a new world.

The four were sitting in a booth with their heavy armor covering themselves. Gavin sat next to Ray, the man who had warned him earlier. The other two sat opposite.

They placed their orders and they sat in silence. The silence was comfortable for them now; they didn’t have much to talk about anymore.

“How are you guys?” Gavin finally asked, tired of the silence. His British voice filled the air, making the others relax, in a way.

“Fine, I guess,” the man sitting opposite, Jack, answered, “Same as always.”

“Same here,” Gavin sighed. Their drinks came and they all preoccupied themselves to avoid any more struggled conversation. Jack’s mind wandered upwards and landed on a TV in the corner. The headline made him groan, and his friends looked at the screen as well.

Three persons were killed today for possession of an Apple MacBook. Their home is now in ashes.

Gavin buried his face in his hands to avoid looking sad. He wasn’t meant to be sad. It was wrong to feel sad for those who had broken the law. It was wrong to feel sad for the ones that wanted their old world back, before the enforcement of this damned law. He was supposed to be happy that another group of delinquents was out of the way, so the world could go on without any stress. Instead, though, he disguised his heartache by downing the rest of his water.

“Oh well,” Ray said, emotionless, “Nothing we can do about it.”

“Oh, you know it hurts,” Gavin snapped, setting his glass down.

“Hush,” Jack warned.

“Yeah, it would be a shame if you continued right when You-Know-Who walks in for his break. It’s in…less than a minute,” the fourth guy, Geoff, finally spoke up. Gavin’s heart broke again at the mention of their boss, their fifth. The completion of their group.

“I’d give anything to go back,” Gavin whispered.

“Well, we aren’t,” Geoff told him with a tone like a butcher knife.

“I know, you knob.” Gavin was surprised to hear such a tone from his colleague. To be fair, he had heard worse from the man, but it sounded especially harsh in that moment.

Their food arrived and they dined in more silence when their boss walked inside the restaurant. The man wore dark jeans and a dressier top, since he wasn’t doing any of the burning himself. His job was to hire and instruct, which was just as taxing to do.

“Afternoon, gentlemen,” the male spoke to the table.

"Afternoon, Mr. Jones," they all mumbled back to the man.

"You guys should be heading back, am I wrong? It's almost two," their boss casually said, as if he weren't trying to get them in trouble.

"We're just waiting for the bill," Gavin explained, not making eye contact.

"Make sure it gets here soon, Free."

"Yes, Mr. Jones."

He walked away to a stool at the counter, leaving the group behind. Their bill came and each person threw a couple dollars in the middle of the table. Gavin gazed over again to his boss, his old companion. He was sipping a cup of coffee midday, like there wasn't a care in the world.

Gavin hasn't realized he had been staring so long until he realized he was alone.

~~~

The end of the workday finally rolled around. Gavin put down the shovel and returned to his small locker. Inside were his home keys, a bottle of water, his jacket and a photograph. Gavin took a moment to admire the tattered picture. The edges were scraped and broken but the five guys in it were smiling and laughing. Gavin always admired that it was as if the crumbled world trying to tear apart their group, but they wouldn’t let the apocalypse ruin them. Then, as his boss walks by and kicks him out, he remembers the reality. 

Gavin slipped his jacket on and walked outside. The sun was setting and turning the clouds into some color. The breeze made him want to get home to his sanctuary. 

Gavin saw Ray up ahead on the road and ran as an idea came to him. 

“Hey,” Gavin sputtered when he got there. 

“Hey, Free,” Ray sighed.

“How are you?”

Ray looked at Gavin funny. “What’s goin’ on, Gav? We’ve barely spoken since everything happened. What’s the occasion?” 

“Wanna come over this Friday after work?” Gavin spoke really quickly out of fear, “Kinda like old times, just minus what we were about?”

Ray stopped dead in his tracks. He looked around as if he were to be maimed any second. “Why?”

“What do you mean why? We can’t hang out?”

“Gavin, I know this is really hard on you,” Ray began, placing his hand on Gavin’s shoulder for support, “It’s hard on everyone. The entire world has changed drastically. It’s best to just move on from everything and start new lives. If not the best move, it’s definitely the easiest. That’s the life I live now. I can’t keep thinking about the old world. I have to move forward.”

Gavin broke his gaze with the man and looked down. “At least come over one last time. Then go on and live however you’d like. I’m just askin’ for one final time with a friend.” Gavin’s voice pleaded for this. 

Ray contemplated for a moment before nodding, and agreeing to go over for dinner. Gavin told him to be there by seven, and Ray accepted. Gavin ran the rest of the way home to make a couple of phone calls.

~~

When Friday finally came around, Gavin requested to leave work early, right after his lunch. He had to go to his boss for the permission, a terrifying action. 

“Hey, Mr. Jones?” Gavin called into the office. It was small and pale, something that would drive him insane if he were stuck inside. It made him almost grateful for his position.

“Yes?” Michael mumbled, not looking up from his papers. With the law of no computers, everything had gone back to the time before the machines. Everything was handwritten nowadays.

“I was wonderin’ if I could take the rest of the day off, I have some personal attires to take care of,” Gavin asked, trembling on the inside.

Michael stopped writing and paused. All he knew of Gavin now was that he took the same schedule every day, and has done so for the past year. He always asked people of him, of his life outside of work. Of all his past co-workers, Gavin was the one he cared about the most; the one he needed to know was okay.

“Yeah, sure, whatever,” Michael murmured, confused on his sudden act of kindness. “Work through your lunch, though!” he added. 

“Yes, sir,” Gavin answered, “Thank you, Mi-cool.”

As Gavin left the office, Michael felt the needs to scream back “That’s Mr. Jones to you!”

But instead, he just let the poor man leave and let his heart tighten up in memories.

~~

Gavin worked through his lunch while his co-workers ate. He burned more disks and laptops, sometimes slipping whole CD’s and DVD’S inside them, so he wouldn’t see them in the blazes. It made him believe they weren’t dead, when they just took longer to hit the fire. When his colleagues came back in, he went off to his locker. They looked at him funny, but didn’t give it much thought. They just went back to their mind numbing job.

Gavin ambled home, taking in the beautiful day that surrounded him. The atmosphere didn’t know what happened. The world has just been turning as it always had, no news for it. Gavin wished he could just absorb into the world, and escape the hell he called his home. 

His little house was on the corner of a not so busy avenue. It was just two bedrooms, a bathroom, a measly little kitchen, a living room, and a basement. The basement was furnished, though, and it used to be inhabited by laughter and screams of joy. Today, it was still and dull, occasionally used to watch the news or an old cartoon. Gavin didn’t dare break any rules of anything, by even pretending to play a video game. Microphones were installed after the regulation came into play, and now his every sound was monitored. If someone dared had the volume on an old PlayStation 3 or a desktop computer, the firefighters would come and consumed the house in flames. No questions, no pleads for mercy, just some fire. 

Granted, this meant that thousands, probably millions were out there, breaking the law on a daily basis. The ones who were afraid, though, turned their friends in, in fear of themselves, and the human instinct of survival. 

Gavin went home and cleaned the entire house. If he were to have guests over - Geoff and Jack also reluctantly agreed to come over - he wanted to make a good impression. Old, dusty trash bags emerged from under the sink and were filled with old wrappers and discarded papers. He filled at least three bags with rubbish and assorted spoiled foods. The bags went outside to the backyard.

Gavin went back inside and went downstairs. He cleaned this area with lots of care and precision, since his plan would take place down there. By the time he was finished, it was close to the guys’ closing time. Upstairs, he rushed around, laying out finger foods and snacks for them. He took a cup of his favorite drink and sat on the sofa, waiting.

~~~

Michael Jones couldn’t get Gavin Free out of his head. 

Once his time was done for the day, he walked in a different direction home. He told himself it was just to clear his head. The work he had to do mentally hurt him everyday, and he said he just wanted to take in some fresh air.

And, of course, see what Gavin was up to in his little home.

He took the path back to his worker’s - friend’s? - house. He saw Ray, Geoff, and Jack walking from the opposite direction, though, and into his house. He saw Gavin for a split second before everyone piled inside. The door shut, and Michael was left alone with his mind.

He decided to stick around.

~~~

“Come in, you guys!” Gavin cheered, letting the men pass him. The house was sparkling and the treats were displayed with excellence. The guys looked around, very confused. 

“Have a snack, make yourselves at home,” Gavin coaxed, trying to loosen the tense air. Jack took a handful of pretzels, but everyone else just waited. Gavin held a drink in his hand. 

“So, how’s it goin’?” He asked the question just to break the tension, but it only seemed to add even more. 

“Gavin, quit the act. Why are we here?” Ray wanted to cut to the chase and figure out what was happening. In the time since their apocalypse, Gavin hasn’t really been this interesting. 

Gavin sighed. “Downstairs, I have something that can kill us all. Personally, it’s the way I would prefer to die.”

People looked at Gavin as if he sprouted a third arm. “If you guys wanna see, you just can’t say a word.”

The four of them went downstairs.

~~~

Michael peeked in through Gavin’s front window to see all his employees going down to Gavin’s basement. His curiosity was eating away at him with every passing second. Everyone but Gavin had a worried look on their face while Gavin’s looked...particularly sad. It had a glimmer of hope, but also just pure fear and sorrow.

Michael went to see if the front door was unlocked, and it was, so he stepped inside.

~~~

“What’s going on, Gav? I’m freaking out,” Geoff asked when they were in the room. It was the first time they were all in there without laughing or being friendly.

Gavin walked over to a wall on the other side of the room. He never revealed this, but behind the wall was a storage area he built after everything. It was carved out, and held six things inside. 

When Gavin placed a trembling hand on the colored wall, his friends gasped at what was behind it.

An Xbox 360 and four controllers.

~~

Michael could hear the gasps coming from the basement, and he almost invited himself down there to see. He could hear Jack whisper scream “What the fuck, Gavin?!” and Ray say “Do you want to die?!”

He couldn’t see Gavin, but he could only guess his head hung towards the floor. “I don’t wanna live in a world where I can’t do something I’m passionate about. Computers are gone, games are gone, I have already died. I’d rather die doing what I love than live where I cannot fully live,” Gavin explained. Michael could feel the devotion in his words and his heart shattered since he felt the same. What was he without being able to enjoy himself?

Geoff sighed. “I know, Gavin, and I feel the same. But if you invited us over here to die with you then-” He cut himself off. He just went over to Gavin and hugged him. “I’m sorry.”

Geoff turned and slipped out the back door, with Ray and Jack following numbly. They too had hugged Gavin goodbye and left to live their rotten lives.

Michael went downstairs.

~~~

Gavin wasn’t surprised that they had left. With all he knew, they were going to report him for owning an old system like that. He didn’t care. He went and plugged in the Xbox, regardless of anything. He wanted to die doing what he loved, instead of living where he had to destroy it.

“Gavin.”

Gavin jumped out of his skin and turned to see Michael standing at the base of the stairs. He was more afraid to see someone like his boss there, but at the same time, he was relieved. He wanted to be with him in his final moments, and he could only pray that the other felt the same.

“Do you believe in an afterlife, Gavin?” Michael asked slowly. Gavin didn’t respond, since he was still just so stunned to see his friend there. Michael continued. “Because I do. I believe that you can pick any place as a Heaven, and that’s where you go. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but that’s what I think.”

“That kinda make sense, I guess,” Gavin mumbled, standing upright.

“What were you gonna do? For your final moments?” Michael questioned, walking over to the console. He touched it, letting the dust pile on his fingertips. He wanted to cry, from happiness and fear, but regained himself for Gavin.

“Minecraft,” Gavin whispered, to make sure the cameras didn’t pick up the audio, “This is the one with Achievement City on its drive.”

“I don’t wanna play there,” Michael whispered back. 

“You’re gonna play with me?” Gavin was getting nervous, but was also ready to just reach out and hug Michael for being there with him. 

“Yeah,” Michael nodded, as if he were just confirming it with himself. “I wanna play where I believe my Heaven is.”

“Your heaven is a Minecraft world?”

“Not just anyone,” Michael whispered, “‘Michael and Gav Happy World’, to be precise.”

“Wha-”

“Gavin, I love you. No, I’m in love with you. And I want to spend my final moments with you. I can’t be more sorry than how I’ve treated you for the past year; it was out of fear of death. But, like you said, you’ve already died, and so have I. May as well go out together, right?” Michael explained, his voice cracking some. “I don’t know if I’m suicidal or not, or what this is, but I know I simply just wanna be somewhere that isn’t here, wherever it is, with you.”

Gavin’s stomach burst and let butterflies fly around inside. “I love you too,” he breathed in his British accent. “I have since I first met you all those years ago.”

“You’re the coolest person I’ve met, Gavino,” Michael chuckled. He walked over to the trembling boy and enveloped him in a hug, letting his head press into his chest. Gavin covered Michael’s hair with light kisses of relief and let his arms squeeze Michael’s frame. They held this pose until Gavin spoke again.

“Do you really want to do this?”

“I’m positive.”

They let go, and Gavin plugged the Xbox into the wall. The volume was low for now, and they agreed to turn it up when the game started.

Michael’s heart sped up and a few tears rolled out of his eyes. He was holding a controller again. He and Gavin were squished together on the couch, not wanting to be apart. The familiar logo for Minecraft came up, and both just cried. They hadn’t really understood how much they had missed it until they were playing for the very last time.

Their world loaded and their skins appeared. The shades of green on the Creeper and the comforting browns and such for Banjo made their hearts swell. The duo of men looked at each other and nodded. They turned up the volume.

The peaceful Minecraft tunes filled their ears. It hit the receiver and people at the headquarters heard the noise. They instantly sent the trucks out to the location.

Michael and Gavin remained silent, since their presence made up for speaking. They mainly went around collecting flowers.

“Ray loved roses,” Gavin whispered.

“I know, Gav, I know,” Michael sighed back, his heart heavy yet content. 

Sirens could be heard down the road. The people of the neighborhood went outside to follow, out of curiosity.

Michael dug a hole six blocks deep and two blocks wide and put a bed inside. He left the top open and went up to place the flowers all around. He made one for Gavin, as well.

“What are you doin’?” Gavin asked as he collected more of the reds and yellows.

“Making myself a grave. When we die, we’ll wake up here and be able to go on,” Michael explained, his voice cracked as he heard the sirens for the first time. Gavin rested his head on Michael’s shoulder and expanded the hole he had made, so he could rest there too. Michael returned the favor and wrapped his arm around Gavin’s stomach. Minutes passed, and then they could smell the flames. 

Waiting for the flames to reach them was both the fastest and longest moment in their entire lives. After covering the area with flowers, they slept in their Minecraft-made beds, and waited for Gavin’s house to begin breaking. Bits and pieces, mainly crumbs of structure fell, and before long, heavy chunks were flying. The flames fell upon the carpet and were inching their way towards the men. 

“Mi-cool...” Gavin gasped, looking into his eyes. Michael calmed his friend with their first and final kiss. It didn’t escalate into anything more than them just moving in sync, and smiling against each other’s lips. Their heartbeats were pounding out of control between fear, pain, and love. They parted for nothing more than a second to whisper “I love you so much” when the fire scalded their skin, and the ceiling imploded on them, taking their lives without a minute of regret or pain. 

It signaled the end to their time on Earth, when they would play with their best friends in a time of happiness. It ended their time of agony when they would have to wake up to demolish their past and pretend the other didn’t exist. 

In the moment of their final breath, it was merely the beginning of the rest of their lives.


End file.
